A fighter from the Ahrar al Sham, a jihadist group in Syria, is heard saying on a video that the aircraft at the overrun al-Jarrah airbase “are now in the hands” of the group. The Al Nusrah Front also participated in the assault.
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, executed the double attack, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The al Qaeda affiliate has gained control or has a major presence in several key cities and towns along the Euphrates River, securing its lines of communication into Iraq.
Yesterday’s attack was likely executed by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda in Iraq’s affiliate in Syria.
Nineteen anti-al Qaeda Awakening fighters and three Iraqi soldiers were killed in the suicide attack, which is the second of its kind in Iraq in two days.
The tactic of the suicide assault is being employed with increasing frequency by al Qaeda and its affiliates and allies in all of the major theaters of the Long War.
Eastern Syria has long been a haven for al Qaeda in Iraq, but now the terror group’s affiliate is openly ruling a town near the Iraqi border.
The Al Nusrah Front has claimed credit for five of the six suicide attacks that have been reported in Syria so far this year.
The operations are part of the “third wave” of al Qaeda in Iraq’s “Destroying the Walls” campaign.
The al Qaeda affiliate sent five suicide bombers to attack a Syrian military base near the Golan Heights in what the group described as “a compound special operation.”
Al Nusrah Front expels foreign correspondents, imposes veil
The suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a policeman in Tuz Khurmatu. The attack is the fourth suicide bombing in the country in nine days.
Abdullah Bawazir fought against US forces in Iraq and escaped from a Yemeni prison in June 2011, according to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He was killed in a drone strike in Hadramout on Dec. 24, 2012.
Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria claimed credit for the first two suicide attacks reported in Syria this year. The attacks were launched to avenge reported atrocities in a village in Idlib.
Dueling statements reflect the deepening sectarian political crisis in Iraq.
Sheikh Aifan Sadoun Aifan al-Issawi, an Iraqi parliamentarian and one of the leaders of the Sunni tribal “Awakening,” was assassinated while inspecting a road construction project near Fallujah.
A jihadist alliance made up of the Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham, and the Islamic Vanguard seized control of the Taftanaz air base in Idlib.
The Daily Beast reported that the brother of a key suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi is an al Qaeda in Iraq facilitator.
Analysis: Study shows rise of al Qaeda affiliate in Syria
US officials have accused the Assad regime of using Iranian-made, short-range ballistic missiles against a rebel offensive this week. The regime has deployed a wide array of tactical ballistic missiles against suspected al Qaeda-affiliated rebels this month.
The al Qaeda affiliate is capable of sustaining multiple offensives across Syria against the forces of the Assad regime, and has overrun several military bases this year.
Abu Muhammad al Julani sends “a greeting of love and loyalty to our pure and pious emigrant brothers” who are waging jihad in Syria.
Iraq Sunni rallies gather steam
The group said that Abu Muhammad al Julani is alive and well, and also confirmed that two Zarqawi associates, Abu Anas al Sahhaba and Abu Julaybib, are senior commanders.
Hezbollah chief says Al-Qaeda ‘tricked’ to fight in Syria
Iyad al Tubasi is thought to have been killed in Daraa. He is believed to have been replaced by Abu Anas al Sahhaba, another associate of former al Qaeda in Iraq emir Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
Five units in Western Aleppo that are linked to the Al Nusrah Front vowed “to establish the Islamic Khilafah state, and to use it to end decades of colonization and enslavement.”
The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant said two of its suicide bombers attacked the Interior Ministry yesterday.
The establishment of the Mujahideen Shura Council in Deir al-Zour is a step in the unification of jihadist groups in Syria. Syrian opposition groups rally around the Al Nusrah Front after the terrorist designation by the US.
The rise of Syria’s ‘third army’, Jabhat al-Nusra